Originally Posted by Fursty Ferret
Most of my landings are a gentle plop into the touchdown zone, occasionally a greaser, and sometimes the WHUMP onto the markers. And sometimes I have no idea why that happened, 'cos it can be onto any runway, with any slope, and any wind.
Well … it seems that “most” of your landings are more than satisfactory … sometimes surprisingly so … and sometimes you’re jarred back into reality.
My recommendation would be that you:
FIRST, pay significantly closer attention to how you are handling the controls during short final … and if that doesn’t give you a meaningful clue as to what you’re doing or not doing from one landing to the next;
SECOND, grab a knowledgeable instructor and have him/her take you into the simulator to examine your technique during approach/landings with all the variables you mentioned. If that instructor knows anything he/she should be able to point out to you what inconsistencies you may be bouncing between (no pun intended); or … if you're interested, I can forward to you a copy of some of the recommendations I've made for how a lot of folks really learn and/or polish their landing technique - and I can certainly do that publically or privately - as you prefer.
LASTLY, and only because “a WHUMP onto the markers,” is not a long way from “a WHUMP into the ground short of the runway,” if the first and/or second recommendations don’t work, I hear that the Post Office is hiring.